[SIZE=12pt]Dragging an overstuffed bag behind him, Val made his way through the crowds at the festival, taking little heed of the many passerby he nearly bumped into or tripped with his cargo. Glares followed him as he went, along with a few curses, but so far no one had gotten angry enough to challenge or threaten him. His strange appearance tended to put people off, but today it worked in his favor; his current outfit made him appear (at least at first glance[/SIZE]—look closer and you would see it was only a gaudy theater costume) much richer than he actually was, perhaps even a nobleman visiting from a far wealthier world. The lightsaber hanging from his belt was also a strong deterrent against picking a fight with him.
[SIZE=12pt]What was the dancer doing on Svivren, all the way in the Outer Rim? Well, with the theater on Coruscant having closed up at the end of the season, Val was forced to find other work. He fell back on his reliable old gig—providing off-world transport to civilians in his ship, the Stardust. His latest sojourn had involved a round trip to Svivren, carrying a young woman who wanted to visit her family.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Somewhere between screaming at him for piloting like a maniac and becoming violently ill in the ‘fresher after one too many spins, his last passenger had noticed his collection of odds and ends scattered around the interior of the ship. Her eyes began to gleam, and her mouth had fallen open. Val had initially misread the look on her face, thinking it was awe and appreciation for the artful way he had arranged the junk other people had cast off. But when she turned to face him, he realized it was covetous greed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Long story short, she had convinced him to sell her one of his baubles. He’d been a little sad to part with it, but he needed the money. Besides, it wasn’t nearly as pretty as some of the other trinkets he’d found in the trash. After that first transaction, he’d felt compelled on a whim to try and get rid of all the ugliest pieces in his collection—the utilitarian ones constructed of materials too strong to work with and too specific in shape to be incorporated into the shiny mural he was making on the starboard wall of the Stardust[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]. The festival simply provided an easy (and profitable) means of selling them off.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Without a stall of his own, he simply found an unoccupied corner of the marketplace and dumped the contents of his bag onto the ground. A wide array of electronic devices, including elaborate translators, advanced computer spikes, mismatched droid parts, and even a few weapons of varying age and quality tumbled out in a confused pile. Pleased that he would not be wasting the things he didn’t want by simply throwing them away (and deriving manic pleasure from having made such a large mess in a public space), Val promptly took a seat cross-legged on the ground behind his haul and waited. He was no salesman and wasn’t really sure what all this stuff was worth exactly, but after seeing how his passenger reacted, he was confident the goods would sell themselves.[/SIZE]